Blessings

Tonight I am filled with gratitude and thankfulness.
I just spent the day with one of my students and her wonderful family!
This all started with a wonderfully kind invitation to be dressed in her mother's Kimono. I was honored by the offer and excitedly accepted the invitation! We set a date and planned to make a day of it!
My student picked me up around 10am at the station! She greeted me with a big smile and in company were her two anxious children smiling as well! From the moment I was greeted, I could feel the warmth and kindness this family had! As we drove, the children began to feel more comfortable with me... especially her daughter! She was quite the teacher and was helping me with my Japanese... she was my Nihongo ga sensei for the day! "apple in Japanese is ringo" "green in Japanese is midori" sooo kawaii (cute!!!) And as we drove, we approached the ocean. Now this is the first time I am seeing the ocean since I have been in Japan, and I didn't realize the effect it would have one me. [ok prepare yourselves for some extremely corny dialog right about now] When I first catch sight of the ocean it was as if the ocean; the waves, the sand, and entire atmosphere came crashing into my chest and filled my heart with happiness! [I know, I know... it's soo corny, but I can't think of any better way to describe how it felt] It was like I felt at home! Okay so we made a few stops at different beaches where we walked up to a cute lighthouse and saw an amazing view of the beach, then to a cute little park where the kids went down this big slide that looked like it came from a carnival ride:)
After our little beach adventures, we went to lunch at one of my student's friends restaurants. It was very nice! Great food! Oishi!!!! (soooo good) it was small, but classic looking. When you walk up to the main dinning area, you walk by a small Ostrich farm with a few Ostriches walking around, then up a few stairs to a high ceilinged, wood framed room. It was clean and simple, but it had great character! Apparently they have live music concerts there in the summer!
After a delicious lunch, we went to my student's mother's house for the "Kimono Party"! The house was a very traditional Japanese home with many tatami mat rooms. So for the next about hour and a half, I was dressed in two different kinds of Kimono. One was a more casual Kimono and the other was a more formal Kimono used for special occasions like weddings or something. I can understand why Kimono dressing is such a special occasion; it takes time, effort and precision to dress someone in a Kimono. I felt so special being taken care of and dressed so specially in such a beautiful Kimono! I'm having a hard time expressing how wonderful this experience was, but just know that my whole heart was filled with love, not only because of the exciting experience, but mostly because of the wonderful family I was surrounded by. I had my student, her mother, her aunt and her daughter all helping me and saying "Kire" "Kire" (beautiful, beautiful) they are just such kind people!
As if the kindness of taking the time to share this experience with me wasn't enough, they gave me one of the Kimono to keep!!!!! I was so touched by kindness! I wasn't sure how to accept such an offer, but Luckily my student was able to translate how thankful I was and how touched I was by this gift!!! (honestly I'm still in shock that I now have my own Kimono... it's beautiful and I... I don't know, it's just amazing)
After saying thank you as many times as I possibly could, we left her mother's house and went to my student's house were I played wii with her son and received more Japanese lessons from her daughter... this time with writing Hiragana!!! I told my student that her daughter would make a wonderful teacher!!! So cute! Then a few of her friends came over and we had sushi and beer, and talked and hung out! It was an absolutely wonderful day! It felt so comforting being around a happy family with great friends and laughter and games and kids... it was just wonderful!
I just thought I would share this experience with you, because it's not everyday that someone opens up there home and shows such kindness to someone they don't really know that well... My heart is filled with gratitude and thankfulness! I have already learned a lot from this experience, however this particular experience has taught me something about giving and kindness on a whole new level! I hope to take with me this feeling and remember it always!

Purikura!!!!

Okay so here goes...
I feel I should prepare you for what is about to come your way. The Japanese call it "Purikura" however, I have also heard it been called things such as "Pre- Club". The Americans would know it by the name of "Photo Booth" (on crack!). So basically they are photo booths with amazing effects! For example, since the popular trend among young Japanese girls is to have light light skin and large appearing eyes, these photo booths create that illusion for you. You can even choose how light your skin will appear. You can also choose how large your eyes will look. I think the choices are "large" and "FREAKISHLY LARGE". It's pretty intense! So that's just step one...
Oh, p.s. all the instructions are in Japanese, so it's quite a task for any
foreigners...although I don't think I have seen anyone but young teenage
girls and young Junior High couples in these things. lol
so anyways, now its about the background... there are about 20 different backgrounds you can choose from. Some are themed, some are just colored...
Next is Picture Time! It goes really fast, but they do have funny Japanese girls doing different posses before each new picture in case you need help thinking of a new pose! (Brilliant!)
Okay so I know what you're thinking, "picture time is over, you go outside the booth and wait for your little strip of photos to come out!" NOT QUITE...
This is where the real fun begins! After you exit the photo booth, you head to a computer screen booth where it's time to decorate! That's right, decorate!!!
And I'm not talking about a simple heart border, or antiqued edges... We are talking, massive amounts of clip art, make-up additions, writing tools, background enhancements, you name- they've got it!
So for this portion, you have a set time limit, which makes it a little challenging, because there is just soo much to choose from! When that sad (more like high pitched Japanese girl's) voice initiates the count down it's WILD! You franticly paste and write and clutter as much stuff as possible on your photo and then, before you know it, your once magical electronic pen is now lifeless and dead.
It was a rush, from start to finish and now is the time where you enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Head out of your magical computer booth and wait (like 2 seconds) for your photo creation to appear! It's amazing, you bask in your triumph, but not for too long, because now it's time to have your master pieces sent to your phone! Yep... and not by typing your e-mail.. no, no, such things would be far too primitive. And so in keeping with our high-tech experience of the last umm, lets say 15 minutes, I take out my phone, turn on my "infrared" setting and place it on this scanner that instantly sends a selected picture to my phone data folder! Amazing!
We leave the arcade (where most of these are found) feeling exhilarated! and not only can you admire your creation with your handy little photos - which, by the way, can double as a sticker - you can share them by sending them to friends and family...!
So although it's a little wild and childish, it's a fun time all around!!!
Okay, so I hope that has prepared you for what your are about to see...